Book Review
Stargazers' Log
Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy: A History of Visual Observing from Harriot to Moore
by Neil English
Springer, 2018
(665 pages, $219.99, hardcover)
reviewed by Guillermo Gonzalez
When I was asked to review Neil English's new book on the history of visual telescopic observations, I jumped at the opportunity. Before I became a professional astronomer, I spent many nights (and some days) observing the heavens with my 8-inch f/7 Newtonian reflector in my homemade, backyard, roll-off-roof observatory in the suburbs of Miami, Florida. When I look through the eyepiece of a telescope to observe a planet, the moon, or a deep-space object, I feel I am making an intimate connection with the great observers of years past. And I can share in their joy in reading God's great book not written with words and freely accessible to all with normal vision.
Unfortunately, Chronicling is far from free. Only a relatively few individuals with a strong interest in science history and telescopic observation will want to hand over $200+ for a copy. I would think that school libraries with a substantial science section are the most likely purchasers.
English is eminently qualified to write this book, having been a regular contributor to the British amateur astronomy magazine Astronomy Now for 25 years. Evidence of this can be glimpsed in some of the book's 41 chapters, wherein he employs his extensive background knowledge to bring helpful insights to bear on historical questions. For example, in 1611, at a meeting with members of the Collegium Romanum, Galileo had the members look through his telescope. Some claimed they could see nothing through the telescope. English notes that this is likely because Galileo's telescope had a very narrow field of view and required placing the eye just right to see through it (20).
The chapters in Chronicling are arranged roughly chronologically, but each is self-contained. Each is about an astronomer, a telescope, an important published work, or an astronomical phenomenon. Though together they are an eclectic mix, the emphasis in each chapter is almost always on history, often in the form of a biography. The main exception is the chapter on Walter Scott Houston's "Deep Sky Wonders." English also interweaves astrophysical concepts throughout, and he even throws in a few equations. At times, a chapter might resemble a college-level introductory textbook on astronomy.
Still, the book is an easy read and includes many illustrations. English has a gift for presenting history in an engaging way. He makes all sorts of connections between the subject of a given chapter and that person's contemporaries.
Men of Faith
Why would a reader of Touchstone be interested in this book? I can give several reasons, some of which are obvious. For instance, there's the "Galileo Affair." English writes that "the mythologized view of Galileo standing for truth and reason versus religion and superstition of the Roman Catholic Church is not at all accurate" (20). Historians of science know what science popularizers don't, and English has clearly read the former's books (which he lists at the end of the chapter). His lengthy chapter on Galileo is an excellent summary of modern scholarship.
Those interested in topics related to science and faith will not be disappointed. From the very first chapter, English does not shy away from discussing the religious beliefs of the telescopists. For instance, Thomas Harriot actually turned his telescope towards the heavens before Galileo did. But how many atheist--narrated TV documentaries on astronomy would also mention that Harriot translated the Lord's Prayer into the Algonquin language? (8).
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